More than One Million People in Spain Protest against Abortion

Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards and Europeans flocked to Spain’s capital, Madrid, on Saturday to protest the Socialist government’s move to make it easier to get an abortion.

The anti-abortion protest, themed “each life is important,” began at 5 p.m. in central Madrid and many leading conservative politicians attended, including former Prime Minister José María Aznar.

The protest was prompted by a proposed socialist law that would ease restrictions on obtaining an abortion.

Since 1985, abortion has been decriminalized in Spain, but only in matters of rape, or when the health of the child or mother is at risk. Victims of rape can legally get an abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy, and women can opt for abortions until the 22nd week of pregnancy if doctors detect a malformation of the fetus.

The number of abortions has doubled in the past decade in the traditionally Roman Catholic country, from nearly 54,000 in 1998 to 112,000 in 2007, the most recent year for available data, according to Spain’s Ministry of Health.

The Socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has introduced a bill that would make it easier to get an abortion and give it legal backing, riling up abortion opponents, who already rallied thousands of demonstrators to the streets last March.

The bill, soon to be debated in Parliament, would permit abortions through 14 weeks of pregnancy and set the legal age to obtain an abortion without parental consent at 16 years old.

Supporters say the bill includes the “voluntary interruption of pregnancy” as part of a broader national strategy on sexual and reproductive health, with education and access to contraceptives, aimed at preventing unwanted pregnancies. Unwanted pregnancies have been on the rise in Spain, said Equality Minister Bibiana Aido in May, shortly before the introduction of the bill.

But opponents say the proposed law throws open the door to more abortions.

Benigno Blanco, director of Spanish Family Forum who organized the protest, told the Spanish newspaper ABC that “this debate won’t end until there’s not a single abortion.” Blanco was a senior official in Aznar’s government.

Protesters traveled to the rally from various cities across Spain, and the event had the support of 234 anti-abortion groups from 45 countries, organizers said.

Socialist lawmaker Carmen Monton said the protesters are trying to “take the debate back to 20 years ago, when in fact abortion has been going on in Spain.”

She said the Socialists, despite the protest on Saturday, are confident of passing the bill with the support of several smaller, mainly leftist parties in parliament. But due to parliamentary schedules, it may not face a vote to become law until early next spring.

“There are more than one million people,” Victor Gago, a spokesman for the anti-abortion organisation HazteOir (Make Yourself Heard), told AFP.

Minutes later, Gago said he put the number of people at 1.5 million. He said an official estimate would be released later in the evening.

The Madrid regional government meanwhile estimated the crowd at 1.2 million, the TeleMadrid television channel reported.

Another anti-abortion protest in the Spanish capital last March attracted 500,000 people, according to the organizers.

One protester, 41-year-old lawyer Belen Lopez, said human life begins at conception, and that Spain was erring in following other countries’ examples and instead should not allow abortion at all. “The other countries that do that are also wrong about what the conception of life is,” Lopez said.

Andrea Caballeria, 15, said she opposed the clause allowing minors to abort without parental consent. “I don’t think it is right for a 16-year-old girl to take the decision to kill a child, who is a person who can be like me or you in a few years,” she said.

The Americano / Agencies

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